2mm HYW Longbowmen Test Base

Fiddling about with a test base for the 2mm early HYW Anglo-Breton Army to see how I can achieve a realistic yet straightforward result. The base was given a coat of fine sand then spray undercoated with Halfords Ultra Matt Camo Brown. After this I wet brushed some very cheap and very old Earth Brown acrylic artist paint, as a basecoat, followed by a heavy dry brush in Vallejo USA Tan Earth. 

The question now is do I use fine flock to cover the whole base, leaving a few earthy patches, or do I use another wet brush / dry brush approach for the grass? In the past I've just used flock patches for my Strength and Honour bases but they were for Parthia and similar arid locations, so probably not a good option, considering the HYW project will focus on an often soggy Brittany.

I'm going to try a three stage wet brush and dry brush in Vallejo green colours, which I've tried out on my 2mm ECW units before, with a final wash of Citadel Athonian Camo Shade for definition. If this looks okay, I will then add a few patches of light grass flock to represent bushes, brambles and other foliage, just to give the whole thing a more organic look. 

If it looks rubbish...I'll have to try Plan B!

2mm HYW English / Anglo-Breton Army c1350

A slight change of plan for the next couple of weeks, as I put the Lion Rampant / Ecorcheurs army to one side and paint up this lot. Here we have an early Hundred Years War or War of Breton Succession army, using the Antonine Miniatures Strength and Honour 2mm range. 

At the front there's a single unit of mounted men at arms, with two dismounted men at arms units to the immediate left. At the back left are two units of spearmen, Welsh or otherwise, while on the right are four units of longbowmen in wedge formation. 

I'd add another unit of dismounted men at arms but I've run out of the bits I need for that, with an order placed today for some additional pieces to use for the French - Breton side. I've already put together a base of mounted knights for them but need more pieces to do the crossbows, spearmen and so on.

The rules for this are a bit sketchy to say the least, but I'll start off with Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames, albeit tweaked to add a bit more detail or even mashed together with his Ancient and Medieval rules? I might even write my own rules, who knows? The plan is to use my neglected collection of Hexon terrain as a quick fix, so that I can try out the rules for some solo wargaming as soon as possible.

Big Red Bat Battlemat

I'm back from Brittany and have been unpacking, tidying up, mowing the lawn and generally sorting stuff out today, so no wargaming just yet. One nice thing was unpacking my new 6' x 4' terrain cloth from the Big Red Bat shop, complete with a very subtle 15cm square grid. This is destined for AK47 People's Edition, but I'm also going to use it for Strength and Honour, as my units have very similar base shades. 

I'm even considering using it for the Sandbox Skirmish 15mm solo project, which has been stalked for ages as I just couldn't decide how to go about the terrain. It only needs a 3' or 4' square area, so the cloth would be more than adequate and I can ignore the grid for aesthetic purposes. The figures and vehicles I've test painted also match quite well with the Iberian Plains design, with perhaps a little bit of a dry brush to get the shade just right. It was an expensive purchase but it's looking like good value for money.

2mm Portable Ancient Wargames

Anglo Saxon (top) and Norman (bottom)

Ancient British (top) and Imperial Roman (bottom)

While waiting for the undercoat to dry on the 2mm pike and shot units today, I had a play around with some Antonine Miniatures 2mm blocks and 50mm x 30mm bases. I thought this combination would work for the Portable Ancient Wargame rules, which can be stretched to cover the early Middle Ages. I had a go at some Anglo Saxon shield wall units and Norman cavalry, infantry and missile bases, which seemed to work well. I also tried to organise some Ancient British chariot, horde and skirmish bases, together with some Imperial Roman units. I think this might be a good way to create armies for very little time, cost or effort, using my terrain from the English Civil War project and leftover bits from my Strength and Honour project...although I remain to be convinced.

2024 Review - Rolling Dice

It's been a very patchy year in terms of playing games, mainly due to six months working full time and a lack of spare time to spend on actual wargaming. Nonetheless, I've had a couple of excellent games of Strength and Honour, despite still not having a proper grasp of the rules, several very enjoyable pre-dreadnought and WW2 naval games, some one off games of old favourites including Saurian Safari, Bag The Hun, Knights of the Sky and Back of Beyond, together with some new things like Blood Red Skies (of which I am not a fan). Not everything has been a success, the MiG Alley introductory game being a good example, but on the whole it's been a rewarding, if less than extensive spread of wargaming over the course of the year. Unfortunately, its also been very inconsistent, with a strong start fizzling out after three or four months, only picking up right at the end. I really need to make more of an effort to get to the club and to pick up my solo efforts at home, when I have time to set up a game, especially to try out new rules and get stuff on the table after I've spent so much time painting it. I have some ideas for 2025 that might help this along in the right direction. 

Lard Mag 2024

The Lard Mag is out and I'm very pleased to see my Bag the Hun Continuation War scenarios made the final cut. As always, there's plenty more to peruse in this year's edition, with a Jurguthine War campaign for Strength and Honour and scenarios for the Siege of Plymouth using Sharp Practise catching my eye, amongst the usual Chain of Command stuff. Well worth splashing out on as a stocking filler! 

Strength and Honour Carthaginian Victory

An excellent game of Strength and Honour at the club tonight, made even better by a very narrow but decisive Carthaginian victory. It could have gone either way at one point but the Romans jumped the gun and called Homunculus Est a fraction too soon, followed by the Carthaginians at just the critical point in proceedings. Thanks to Kevin, Gary and Mark for another great gane and, of course, to Mr Backhouse Esq. for a brilliant set of rules.

Strength and Honour Club Game

I haven't been to the club in months due to other commitments on a Tuesday night and a lack of get up and go on my part, but I was invited to join a game of Strength and Honour next week, so have arranged a pass. I enjoy playing this set of rules, even if my grasp of the system is still sketchy to say the least, so it's a good opportunity to get a bit more of a grip. It's a Roman Vs Carthaginian scenario for a change, with two players per side. I'm looking forward to it and hope it will give me some impetus to get another army painted next year, probably Agricola's Imperial Romans, the Numidians or the Caledonian Tribes, but maybe something earlier, who knows?

Old Winchester Hill

A morning walk around Old Winchester Hill, a mid to late Iron Age univallate hill fort about half an hour away, one of hundreds in this part of the world but at one of the highest elevations. It would be great as a terrain feature for Strength and Honour but you need a lot of high density foam, polyfilla and static grass!

Strength and Honour Agricola's Caledonian Campaign

 

Here's the latest addition to the Strength and Honour lead pile, a core force for Agricola's Caledonian campaign. There are two legions - IX Hispana and II Augusta - although I may downsize these and base them on the smaller size bases. There are also three auxiliary units - two infantry and one cavalry - representing Batavian and Tungrian auxillaries I've subsequently found out that these should be organised as quingenary cohorts, so I'll replace the blocks and add two or three more to field the full campaign army. Finally there are some skirmisher strips to support the main units. I'm looking forward to getting this army underway, once I've cleared the decks a bit.

Strength and Honour Inspiration

 

The Strength and Honour Game yesterday has given me some really good ideas for my next 2mm army and terrain, having seen what Mark has done with the Antonine Miniatures range. 

1. I was sceptical about the extra faff of adding toothbrush bristle spears or lances to the units but, having seen them up close the effect is well worth the effort, so I'll be adding some to my Parthian Cataphracts for starters.

2. Mark's painting is far more subtle than my blocking in and dry brushing approach, so I'll be taking more time to paint things like faces and shields, especially for the Numidians or Caledonian units.

3. The basing is key to making the units really pop, so while my desert themed bases look fine, I'll give some more thought to base texturing, painting and decorating for my non-arid basing. I really like the snow effect that Mark achieved but scope for that is a bit limited.

4. I've still not sorted a terrain cloth with a grid pattern, although I'm trying to find one for my birthday, but Mark's terrain boards looked brilliant and would be easy to make using high density foam or similar. A pain to store but visually way better than a cloth and easy to colour match to the army bases. 

5. I really need to learn the rules and play more games in order to grasp the system properly and really make the most of the armies I've assembled.  It's great that the buzz from the game yesterday may well encourage other club players to get stuck in but I'd also like to play solo.

....watch this space.